How two cloudbursts in Shrikhand Mahadev led to death and destruction in Himachal

📌 The cloudbursts that wreaked havoc at Bagipul in Kullu and Samej Khad in Shimla occurred simultaneously.

These were some of the findings of the State Disaster Management Authority’s (SDMA) preliminary assessment of the five cloudbursts – three in Kullu, one in Shimla, and one in Mandi – that occurred between 11.30 pm on July 31 and 1.15 am on August 1.

While 27 bodies have been recovered so far, around 55 people are still reported missing, and more than two dozen structures, including houses, two hydro project buildings, a school, and nine small bridges connecting hills at various locations, were among the approximately Rs 760-crore worth of properties damaged in the devastation.

The Samej Khad, a tributary of the Sutlej River that divides Shimla and Kullu districts, witnessed the most significant devastation as 33 people were washed away from the Samej and Kanradar villages located on opposite banks of this rivulet. This area lies within the catchment of the 1,500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri Hydropower Project, the largest in northern India.

In Mandi, a cloudburst occurred near Tikkar village while the cloudburst in Shimla was reported near the Jhakri hydro project, leading to flood-like conditions in Samej Khad.

“Although we are yet to obtain satellite images of the cloudburst-affected areas from that time, initial findings suggest that the Shrikhand Mahadev mountains were the epicentre of two cloudbursts out of five, which caused the most devastation. These occurred over villages Jaon and Bagipul and at Jhakri, which significantly increased the water level in the Samej Khad. The timing and location of the other three cloudbursts, including two reported at Sainj and Malana in Kullu and one in Tikkar in Mandi, differed from the first two,” DC Rana, Director of Disaster Management, Himachal Pradesh, said.

Rana, who also serves as the Director of the Department of Environment, Science, Technology and Climate Change, added, “There is a reason why so much devastation occurred around Samej Khad compared to other areas. This particular area is lower than other cloudburst-affected regions. The water’s velocity, understandably, increased as it travelled downstream. The presence of giant boulders, never seen before in Samej Khad, suggests the tremendous force of the water when it struck the area. On the Kullu side, Malana Dam-1 near Malana village was completely destroyed, along with the famous Malana bridge that connected the village to the Jari tehsil.”

The three cloudbursts in Kullu occurred at Jaon, Bagipul near the Singhbad Base Camp of Shrikhand Mahadev, Sainj, and Malana villages. In Mandi, a cloudburst occurred near Tikkar village while the cloudburst in Shimla was reported near the Jhakri hydro project, leading to flood-like conditions in Samej Khad.

The cloudburst that occurred near the Shrikhand Mahadev mountains fell into Sechi Khad, about 35 km upstream from the confluence point. (PTI)

“You can gauge the velocity of the overflow in Samej Khad from the fact that at least 15 bodies were found approximately 50 to 85 km away from Samej village. Six of these bodies were discovered in the reservoir area of Sunni Dam, buried under debris, scattered wood, and other materials. Another location where four bodies were recovered is about 50 km from Samej village. An intensive inspection of the cloudburst-affected areas suggests that the water level in Samej Khad rose by 35 to 45 meters, sweeping away houses, trees, bridges, and anything else in its path,” Praveen Bhardwaj, a Disaster Management Specialist (DMS) with the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), Shimla, told The Indian Express.

Bhardwaj and his team were tasked with studying various aspects of the calamity. “Field inspections suggest that the width of Samej Khad was only 35 to 40 metres on July 31. By the time rescue teams reached the spot on the morning of August 1, this had expanded to 155 to 185 metres,” he said.

Sources said that to thoroughly investigate the tragedy, the government is in the process of procuring satellite images from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in Hyderabad. “The government has also approached the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) of DRDO to acquire ground-penetrating radars (GPRs),” a source added.

However, locals in Samej have their own understanding of what happened on that fateful night.

Ram Lal, one of the first responders to the disaster, said, “Samej village is situated at the confluence of two rivulets: Muhali Khad and Sechi Khad. The stretch between the confluence point of these two rivulets and the point where they meet the Sutlej River is known as Samej Khad. The cloudburst that occurred near the Shrikhand Mahadev mountains fell into Sechi Khad, about 35 km upstream from the confluence point. There was panic that night.”
“The next morning, we observed traces of water coming from Sechi Khad. A building of the Greenko hydro project, where two families consisting of eight people lived, was situated near Muhali Khad. The building was washed away, and all its occupants are still missing,” Lal added.

Search for all the missing persons has proven to be a herculean task for the authorities. (Saurabh Parashar)

A visit by The Indian Express to the cloudburst-affected area of Samej a day after the tragedy revealed that Muhali Khad and Sechi Khad flow down from two different directions. It was found that some two-storey structures remained intact despite mud entering the lower portion. Locals said these structures were built decades ago, and later occupants constructed new houses further downstream. The two old structures were being used as cowsheds, from which two cows were rescued.

Environment activist Guman Singh of the Himalayan Niti Abhiyan (HNA), an NGO that works to defend the ecology of the state, visited the cloudburst-affected area, particularly Samej. “Whatever the experts say, I believe that human factors cannot be ruled out as a contributing cause of this tragedy,” Singh said.

“The human settlement on one of the banks of Samej Khad, which was completely washed away emerged about two decades ago when a concrete road was constructed at the point where the two rivulets meet. The original village is situated at a higher elevation, away from the area where many houses and a school building now stand. People moved closer to the rivulet without assessing the risks. Cloudbursts have been reported in this area before, but their intensity was never as severe as this time, particularly the one that hit Samej Khad. Climate change and global warming factors indeed cannot be ruled out as contributing causes behind these incidents,” he added.

However, search for all the missing persons has proven to be a herculean task for the authorities. Anupam Kashyap, Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, said, “On the first day of the rescue operation, after observing the water level’s rise on the night of July 31, we concluded that the missing people would have been carried many kilometres away from where their houses were located. Our assessment was confirmed when a mutilated body was found near the Sunni Dam, around 85 km from Samej village. So far, 15 bodies have been found on the Shimla side, all recovered at distances of 50 to 85 km from Samej village.”